The third and final public meeting about developing an art park in what was once called the Dexter Pit was held on Jan. 8, and not much had changed about the design since the last meeting in June, according to Siteworkshop landscape architect Mark Brands.
Artist Andy Cao's seven inverted water-drop-shaped steel frames covered in blue, stainless-steel mesh with LED lights on the tops still form the shape of the Big Dipper in the middle of the former gravel pit. The lights and irrigation will be powered by solar panels set up on the south slope of the pit.
That will be surrounded by a crushed-rock path that will be ADA accessible, Brands said. New elements include some sawn-log benches, large landscape boulders and small retaining walls made of cages holding fist-sized gravel as "kind of an underlying metaphor," he said.
Another thing that has changed is the name. Following a suggestion from the Queen Anne Community Council (QACC), the green space will be called the Thomas C. Wales Park, named in honor of the U.S. Attorney who was gunned down in the basement of his Queen Anne home in 2001.
There were, however, objections to other aspects of the project. Don Harper, who chairs the parks committee for the Queen Anne Community Council, said QACC board members have supported the project as part of the Pro Parks Levy because it would have provided "an incredible view" from the top of the steep, bowl-shaped slope.
There were a couple of problems with that, according to Seattle Parks and Recreation project manager Patrick Donohue. Based on safety concerns, owners in the Windwatch Condominiums at the top of the slope objected to the idea of pedestrians walking behind the building to reach the slope, he said.
"So we would have to have a walkway up the hill," Donohue went on to say. With a budget of $735,000, however, there simply isn't enough money to build and maintain an upslope trail, he explained.
For that matter, there is also not enough money to completely clear the slope of blackberry bushes and other invasive plant species and maintain it afterward, said Brands from Siteworkshop. "If we have more money, we're going to start biting more off," he added.
The problem of the trees along Dexter Avenue North in front of the park also came up at the meeting. They block the view from the street now, which presents a safety problem for those in the park, according to Donohue.
The goal is to remove the lower limbs from the trees to open up the view, an approach that will preserve the canopy, Brands said. If a tree is in bad shape, however, it will be removed, he said.
It was unclear how Wales' name will be marked at the park, but his widow, Elizabeth Wales, was at the meeting and said she liked the art. "I was just sitting here thinking Tom would love this kind of meeting," she said of Wales, a community activist who was on the community council. "I immediately thought it would be 'Tom's Pit,'" she added with a smile.
Work on the Thomas C. Wales Park is expected to begin next April, Donohue said.
Reporter Russ Zabel can be reached by email at rzabel@nwlink.com or on the horn at (206) 461-1309.
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